


Flame Up

by Ninjazzz



Series: Birds Of A Feather [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-07-28 06:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16236272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjazzz/pseuds/Ninjazzz
Summary: Sequel to Brothers Bond. We see the beginning days of Naruto's gennin adventure from different perspectives. Read as they try to discover just what exactly changed everyone's favorite hyperactive blonde. Will team 7 form better bonds with a changed Naruto?I suck at summaries and will post a better one when I get my friends to help me.





	1. Wave

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry for the delay. First work had me working ten hour shifts and I was always too tired after working to write. Then a minor case of writers block. I meant to post this yesterday because I turned 21 yesterday but.... eh.  
> Hope you all enjoy this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following Kakashi as he meets his new team and leading up to the bell test. A rather interesting twist in the bell test causes him to curse the Sandaime.  
> “Sasuke, remember what you said earlier about me being able to escape jonin after a prank?” Sasuke grunts in the positive.

Chapter 1  
Many years ago, shortly after the third great war devastated the Elemental countries, a nine tailed demon fox suddenly appeared in one of the ninja villages. It citizens were caught by surprise and there were many casualties.  
Now, more than a decade later the village hidden in the Leaves is at peace.

"GET BACK HERE!"  
"BITE ME!" A young boys’ voice laughs as he runs

Well....so much for peaceful....  
-You think you know this story right? The story of Uzumaki Naruto, who as a young boy loved to pull pranks? By now I'm sure you believe you know what's happening…

-This isn't that story…  
Though this is also about one Uzumaki Naruto. Allow us to go back in time a bit so we can see the events that lead up to this… 

 

*Penglium on a clock swinging back and forth as we go back a couple years in time to see the events leading up to the scene we just witnessed.* 

As it was said before, by many people, Kakashi didn’t have a normal childhood and thus needs a little help, only now it’s more like a lot of help, in the interaction department. Especially now that he might end up teaching three pre-teen brats and ‘Damn it Sandaime-sama they’re a fucking mirror image of Team Minato. Between Naruto having his father’s looks, Kushina nee-san’s personality. Sasuke who reminds me of Obito in the fact that they both had huge expectations thrust upon them from their clan. The only difference being Sasuke is better at Shuriken jutsu then Obito and Sasuke is revenge obsessed. And finally Sakura who is just as cheerful and is the acting bridge of the team like Rin.’  
Thoughts speed through Kakashi’s head as he observes his possible team.  
He watches as Naruto seems to twitch, as if deciding to prank him- it has been over an hour Kakashi notes. Only to shake his head and pull out a book causing Kakashi to do a double take. Naruto reading a book of all things, Sasuke is broding and Sakura is fangirling.  
Kakashi sighs over how accurate the latter’s files are. He didn’t fully read them but he did look at the notes. Haruno Sakura, poor grades in endurance and sparing. Decent marks in weapons practice and genjutsu along with high marks for written exams. But that’s it. She has excellent memorizational skills and decent skills in illusions. She has amazing skills in being disillusioned to the fact that she’ll survive if she keeps fawning over the Uchiha instead of her studies. Kakashi thanks every god he knows by name that his team mate Rin wasn’t like that.

He explains the objective of the test and watches as as soon as the signal to begin is given two of them hide perfectly… for green gennin. The third… well… he appears to have problems hiding, seeing as how he's standing right in front of Kakashi. A little sensing and it's clear that the real third member of the team is hiding and the one in front of him is a clone. Kakashi mentally nods impressed.  
'Wise choice. When facing an unknown opponent, don't directly attack. It'll only tire you out and get you killed faster. Instead use a clone to scout the enemies abilities.’ it's the same thing Kakashi does when against an opponent with unknown abilities.  
The clone waits for him to move, a wise decision as should the clone, and by extension inexperienced genin, charge at an opponent it could quickly lead to the clone dispelling and the genins death. However it also carries risks. Should the enemy be fast enough the genin would be dead before they could even realize it. But in this case Kakashi will give him a pass seeing as how this is a genin exam, a friendly spar really, between two people of the same village. 

Kakashi notes how the clone fights, a little too tight and rigidly as if he’s trying to perform a style he’s so unused to and so unsuited for. Kakashi wouldn’t be surprised if the academy style tai-jutsu taught to the students was unfamiliar to Naruto. Even less surprised if the style wasn’t suited for Naruto. Naruto’s mother wasn’t suited to them either. It was to structured for her to learn, and structured naturally meant boring in the Uzumaki language.  
Kakashi is surprised that Naruto, even a clone of him, was trying to fight with the academy style. It was all too apparent however that Naruto wasn’t accustomed to the style. It was as if he never really bothered learning about it until that morning, because of sabotage or Naruto being Naruto that is up in the air. While Kakashi knows that Naruto had a habit of sticking to what felt right during the academy spars instead of bothering to learn the full academy style. It isn’t that Naruto is stupid. Quite the contrary, he is just his mother's son and a Uzumaki through and through. They just have too much chakra and it makes it damn near impossible for them to really focus on any one thing, not enough to be ADD or ADHD but enough to cause them to get twitchy if not kept entertained, or moving. There are only two ways that ever seems to hold an Uzumaki’s attention, the first being the Uzumaki being determined to learn something. The second Sealing. Sealing is the one thing that ever seems to hold an Uzumakis attention without requiring that the Uzumaki have a squishy to help keep themselves semi-still. Possibly because of the sheer amount that one can do with it and the possibilities that open up because of it. ‘Like a swiss-army knife that civilians use’ Kakashi muses as he gets behind the clone.  
“Ninja lesson number one, Tai-jutsu. Leaf Village secret taijutsu!”  
“Naruto get out of there! He’s going to destroy you!” Kakashi can hear Sakura call. While he gives her credit for caring about her teammate, she loses a point for giving away her position.  
“A thousand years of death!” He finishes his technique, sending the clone flying into the water.

Kakashi decides to possibly start Naruto on some fuuin jutsu theory at a later date once he has all the information he needs on not only Naruto’s performance level outside of the academy but Sasuke and Sakura as well. Not everyone is best in the academy, Kakashi knows this and understands it. While he did read all three of his prospective students files he isn’t going to completely accept everything they said, Naruto went through a trauma before he met Kakashi. Kakashi can already see the change, he used to be one of the Anbu who guarded the kid and caught him after a prank after-all.  
Though he would never admit to looking the other way a time or two... Or several.. When he saw Naruto walk through the village with a fox like grin and a gallon (or two) of paint or some other pranking supplies. But it did keep everyone on their toes and did help find where security was lax. The fact that it doubled as training for the boy or that Kakashi would sometimes figure whoever was on the receiving end of it probably deserved it- a few of those people coincidentally being on Kakashi’s shit list too- helped. Kakashi never helped Naruto though, no way. He was a shinobi and thus did not look the other way. Or stare after him and smile proudly when the man who had given him a hard time about allowing his pack into the restaurant walked down the road one day sporting green hair. NOPE. Didn’t happen.

He twists to avoid a kunai that he’s almost positive the clone didn’t throw. That means he should be able to start attacking Naruto directly now. The kid has been doing well so far, despite Naruto clearly never really having learned academy katas, the kid was keeping him on his toes. Kakashi’s breath hadn’t picked up, why would it he was a badass ex-anbu jounin, he did have to keep double thinking where the fucking hell the kid might attack next. ‘True Uzumaki style’ Kakashi thinks fondly, remembering back to when Kushina-nee chan had decided to spar with him because she was getting extra twitchy because it had been raining all week and she ran out of fuuin jutsu supplies, and how the fuck that was possible enough to happen Minato-sensei and him never did find out. So they went to a room where sensei had enough sense a while back to plaster every available inch with seals to prevent all types of damage due to spar, or the rage of a pissed off wife when her idiotic-workaholic-husband forgot something important.

He disappears using a substitution jutsu and appears behind a Naruto crouching through in the bushes. Kakashi shakes his head, Naruto should have known better then to stay in one spot after attacking Kakashi like that. It gave away his position. Kakashi taps on Naruto’s shoulder only for the blonde to disappear in a puff of smoke. Kakashi blinks impressed. ‘Another clone huh? This is going to be fun.’ Kakashi has to jump out of the way in order to keep from being skewered by a volley of kunai that the Naruto clone throws his way. Only to watch in shocked fascination as Naruto grows a fox like grin. The same one that the boy would get before and after a well executed prank. This grin wasn’t the you-did-something-to-someone-I care-about type of fox-grin. Kakashi had seen that grin back in Anbu when he gave the kid a name or two of people who had aggravated him a few too many times. No, this was the You-just-fell-into-my-trap-I-did-it, type of fox grin that the kid would get when he just felt like pranking for attention. Naruto looks all too pleased as one of the kunai managed to cut a rope which activated a trap and ‘When the fuck did he set that up?’ a nice sized crater is formed when the ground gives away, revealing a pit trap lined with what looks like poison ivy leaves at the bottom.  
‘Now that is just uncalled for. I know I was late to pick them up yesterday and I was late to the test today but that is just plain cruel punishment for a couple hour wait.’ Kakashi heaves a sigh, wondering where Naruto managed to procure the poison ivy. No longer bothering to just dodge and evade Naruto's attacks or push him back; instead dispelling the clone. Just as the puff of smoke dissipates he has to dodge a ball of fire and ‘How in the fucking hell does a genin have the capacity for a katon jutsu?’ Kakashi wonders incredulously. He knows learning Uchiha Katon jutsu is a rite of passage for Uchiha but that was mostly supposed to be reserved for when the clan member became a genin. Not before they passed the final test. Though Kakashi probably should have seen it coming. This was Uchiha Fugaku’s son, Itachi’s little brother after all. It only made sense that after all that happened the boy would strive to learn jutsu and other techniques to help him catch up to Itachi’s level. From what Kakashi read the boy also excelled at shuriken jutsu. Not exactly Itachi’s forte even though the young, now rogue ninja, was no slouch in them. Kakashi knew from experience that Itachi preferred genjutsu, it was more subtle- more Itachi’s style.  
Kakashi can feel Sasuke’s hand on his belt and teleports out of the way before Sasuke can completely grab a bell. Grabbing the bell isn’t the full objective and Sasuke hasn’t fulfilled the entire objective. He wonders what Sakura is up to and decides to try to find her. Performing a quick jutsu leaves Sasuke buried up to his neck in the dirt and Kakashi is off once more. He extends his senses trying to find the other two. He finds a sign of both. Naruto over by the bentos about twenty yards to his left and Sakura is heading the kids way. ‘Could she perhaps have figured out the meaning of the test? Is she about to work with Naruto?’ Kakashi knows she prefers her precious Sasuke, but could she possibly be setting that aside to work with his Sensei’s hyperactive son?  
He gets closer and listens in to what transpires.  
Sakura walks towards Naruto, there is about thirty minutes left in the test and Sakura walks up to Naruto looking unsure of something.  
“Naruto-kun? What are you doing?”  
“Messing with the clock. He said when the timer goes off we’ll be out of time. If he had been here on time we would have had another three hours.”  
“So you’re cheating the test?” She asks, eyes wide and jaw slowly dropping “But Naruto you can’t cheat. There’s no way that will work. He’s sure to have a good sense of time.”  
“Actually” Naruto drawls. “From what I understand, plenty of jonin, while having a good sense of time, that applies to things like when to eat or go someplace, things that they do in their day to day life to the point they can do it on autopilot. Not to something like a test which they don’t do every day. Also. He set the timer on this thing to go off at one. Not twelve. Something tells me he is used to eating at different times.” Kakashi mentally nods to himself from his hiding place in the trees, able to follow the kids logic. However he also sees a few problems with it. While Kakashi might not know the exact time, he can tell the rough estimation from the sun's location and is far too used to going without a clock while on missions. This is no different.  
Sakura looks like she's about to protest but Naruto looks like he got the outcome he wanted. Sakura shakes her head and starts berating him on how it won’t work and if Sensei finds out she is not going to help him out of any trouble he finds himself in.  
‘Well this won’t do.’ Kakashi decides. If this girl by some miracle passes he is going to take her aside and lecture her about how one does not just leave their teammates to face doom alone. That's not how the leaf operates and sure as shit isn’t how Kakashi runs things.  
‘Sad part is if it was Sasuke she would probably gush over how smart he is and promise to help him should anything happen.’ Kakashi shakes his head sadly. It was always sad when one teammate had to play fangirl and prefer one teammate over the other when it came to things like this. Kakashi could understand if one team mate had a better plan  
But to just outright object to a plan, especially when she didn’t have a better one and there was nothing to lose in just trying it… Kakashi has to fight the urge to pinch the bridge of is nose in frustration. How in the world did this girl graduate. He watches as she rants to Naruto about his plan being stupid and then comments about going off to look for Sasuke before heading off on her own. No mention of working together with Naruto, no asking Naruto how he planned on getting the bells and Kakashi can see Naruto looks a little upset by the girls words but the blond shakes it off and continues fiddling with something and makes clones. Spreading them out, no doubt to look for him. Kakashi takes off after Sakura and places her in a well placed genjutsu just ten metres into the woods from where she left Naruto to his own devices, the pink haired girl had no clue Kakashi was even there before the genjutsu hit. He made sure to make it the same level slightly more experienced genin would recognize as punishment for her treatment of a possible team mate. Yep, never let it be said Kakashi was incapable of being a vindictive jackass. Crossing the ‘No leaving team mates behind’ rule was just asking for Kakashi to be knocking on your door and knocking you down a peg or two. It was looking less likely that that girl would pass this test. Kakashi decides to head towards Sasuke since he can sense one of the Naruto clones near there. He watches as Naruto helps to dig Sasuke out of the hole and Sasuke, in true Uchiha fashion, nods and grunts his thanks. Kakashi decides to allow them a bit to plan since it looks like they are working together. ‘No use spoiling all the fun.’ He thinks as he shunshins back to their original meeting spot.

“So, it’s good to know Sensei has an earth affinity. He’s fast too, but that’s expected of a jounin.”  
‘Did the usuratonkachi actually just start talking about our opponents skills? Is he trying to strategize?’ Sasuke starts taking in what information Naruto provides. He already knew it of course, he watched the other males fight with their sensei. He also noticed the solid clone and places that information in a file in his mind labeled ‘Available resources to use against annoying jonin.’  
“You used to run circles around the jonin after your pranks didn’t you?” Sasuke asks, because he’s noticed Naruto. He’s noticed how there just seems to be something different in him and he knows the blonde might be the same idiot from the academy. But he’s changed, between the night of graduation and when they showed up to the academy to get their teams a couple days later. Something happened, the teen has been more focused, like he has the aura around him that makes him seem like a true genin. Not the loud mouthed idiot he was a week ago. Sasuke wants to see exactly what Naruto can do when he isn’t fooling around and knows about the blonds pranking history. He saw exactly what he did to the monument the morning before the graduation test. How he pulled it off in broad daylight in a NINJA village would remain a mystery but Sasuke held the feeling the security sucked.  
Naruto nods his head. “I was able to figure out a whole bunch of shortcuts that only I could fit through and was able to lose them a few times. The only one who was able to always catch me was Iruka-sensei. Jounin are able to catch me, if I start slowing down or if I go the wrong direction. More often than not they didn’t bother to figure out an actual plan on how to catch me after my pranks though. What do my pranks have to do with anything?”  
“Not exactly your pranks but your speed. Sensei is fast, and there is no way I’ll be able to match him in speed. As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t beat him. I can’t beat a jonin.”  
“Nothing wrong with that. He’s jounin for a reason. I’m willing to bet there are quite a few chunin who couldn’t beat Kakashi-sensei. Why should genin be able to take him so easily?”  
Sasuke grunts. “Any ways, we’re almost out of time. It’s about twelve, the timer should be going off soon.”  
Naruto rubs the back of his head sheepishly. “About that. I may have set the clock back a couple hours. If you check the clock it’s about eight right now.”  
Sasuke’s eyebrow raises suspiciously wondering  
‘Did this usuratonkachi actually come up with a plan?’  
“Well, he did say before the timer went off. So it was worth a shot. He never instructed us to not touch the clock. Anyways, where is Sakura? She was going to look for you when I saw her a while ago.”  
“You think she ran into Sensei?”  
“Possibly. What way do you think she is?”  
“Come on. Let’s find the annoying fangirl.” Sasuke sighs as if wondering why he’s even suggesting this. Sakura is annoying, doesn’t have anything to offer.  
‘But that Usuratonkachi, he didn’t seem to care Sakura is on our team even though he’s had a crush on her for years. And whereas before he would have ignored me and tried to finish this thing by himself, charging in head first and getting his ass handed to himself. Now he’s talking about plans with me, he hasn’t challenged me once. This usuratonkachi is interesting, I’m curious to know what changed him and how much.’

They find Sakura and Sasuke breaks her out of the genjutsu and she immediately tries to latch onto him, crying about how it was horrible and both he and Naruto were dead and she was about to drown in quicksand.  
“Sakura?” Naruto calls to break her out of her tears. “It was a genjutsu. It wasn’t real. Sasuke and I are adding our information about sensei. You had high marks in the academy for profiling. I’d estimate Sensei to be roughly 175 centimetres. About 60 kg in weight. No that’s not right, the weight behind his punches doesn’t feel right. 65 seems more accurate.”  
“He’s got a lean build. He’s able to turn quickly.” Sakura adds slowly coming out of her genjutsu induced stupor. If Kakashi was there he wouldn’t believe these genin were PROFILING HIM and would be a little nervous.  
“He’s fast but it’s not all speed. His strength doesn't seem to slow him down. I saw him looking away from the fight he had with Naruto when this started.”  
“What direction would you say he was facing?” Naruto asks, Sasuke thinks on it. “About eight O’clock.”  
“That’s where I was while setting up the traps for him. Looks like he’s able to sense us.”  
“Which means he’s a tracker.” Sakura sighs.  
Naruto’s eyes widen and he gains a fox-like grin. “Sasuke, remember what you said earlier about me being able to escape jonin after a prank?” Sasuke grunts in the positive.  
“Do either of you remember sensei saying anything about staying in this field?”  
Both of them just look at eachother.

Kakashi is in the clearing when he senses his possible team moving like a bat out of hell away from the field. Now Kakashi is by no means a cat. He is however a human, and humans can get curious. So, like any normal human Kakashi decides to go investigate figuring it’s part of their plan to get the bells… somehow… What he doesn’t figure is the paint bombs that bombard him almost as soon as he’s out of the training field. Kakashi blinks and stands there for all of a minute before he feels a visible tick forming, and takes off in pursuit of the three that planned this. Ok, so he was really only after Naruto at this point because who else would have set a trap like this? But that’s a minor detail.  
He tracks the little shit all over the village- several traps activating including but not limited to eggs, feathers, paint bombs, smoke bombs, pencils, erasers, toilet paper, pudding and kami only knows what that green sludge is- till he catches their trail heading towards the academy? ‘Makes sense. They know the territory better than I do.’ After all what jonin spends time around an academy where there are several dozen pre-genin who are bound to ask you to show off or a billion questions about missions and what being a ninja is like when you could be training, or if you are coming back from a rough mission showering and sleeping- yes at the same time.  
He manages to trip more than a few traps and wonders what is wrong with kids these days? Upon arriving he was bombarded with water balloons, the childish projectiles flying off of the roof of the academy? Doing a quick chakra check reveals Sasuke and Sakura helping to throw the balloons. Which only seems to set off another pit-trap. Huh. He was beginning to sense a theme with the kid. ‘Note, Naruto loves pit traps.’ He goes deeper into the back hills behind the academy and is shocked as shortly after his arrival he has to dodge log traps, smoke bombs, and is that a homemade stink bomb? Kami-sama that stinks. Kakashi finds himself cursing the Sandaime once again that day. Elsewhere the Sandaime sneezes.  
‘Where did he get the stuff for that and how did he come up with the idea of mixing it all together?’ He wonders with a mixture of disbelief and revulsion. He avoids a few more attempts of Sasuke and Naruto trying to grab his belt, all the while dodging kunai Sakura sets off. They retreat, their chakra signatures fade from his range and follows them. The little devils arrive in the training field just as the timer goes off.  
“Well, that’s time. You three failed to get a bell but I’m willing to give you all a second chance.” He ends up tying Sakura to a tree, seeing as how didn’t even attempt to get a bell and was willing to throw Naruto in front of the proverbial kunai was still something that he could forget.  
“If you want a second chance you are not to feed Sakura. I’ll be back after lunch to check that you have obeyed my order.”  
With that he teleports out in a swirl of leaves and waits in the trees nearby. He watches with pride as they feed Sakura and appears, thunderous expression and storm clouds above his head asking why they fed her.  
“She’s our team mate.” Sasuke answers. Well, he grunts but that’s what that particular grunt means- Kakashi has enough experience to know.  
Naruto shouts at Kakashi how “She’ll need the energy to keep up with you Sensei. We’re genin, how do you expect her to manage against you on a empty stomach. Dattebayo?”  
The clouds dissipate and Kakashi eye smiles at them. “You pass.” He passes on the most important lesson he possibly can to them. “Those that break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.” He tells them to meet the next day at six o’clock and asks Naruto about those stink bombs and the traps in the back hills.  
Naruto responds they are all left over from the other month. He created them when he was younger and just keeps resetting them when he goes on runs, “They came in handy when I was being chased by these three women from another village a couple years ago.” and as for the smoke bombs “I was a prankster sensei. I experimented with stuff until I found something good enough.” Kakashi nods, feeling a headache coming on and leaves to give his report to the Hokage that they passed- and to give him a few choice words about how he hates his genin- never knowing what the three of them do afterwards.

An: This chapter is 8 pages and 4,502 words long. As you can see I wanted to do a chapter showing more of what Kakashi noticed, and how the bell test would have changed. Sorry if the characters seem to be Out Of Character. But I’m working to change a lot, this is the ground work but I am trying to make it as believable as possible.


	2. Shilouette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the bell test.  
> -will edit chapter at a later time

Chapter 2:

After the unusual performance during the bell test, and by that Kakashi means it was a total circus. Really, who in the hell turns the entire village into the testing ground? Kakashi arrives on time and takes the chance to observe the three students. They don’t seem to be really interact much but Kakashi figures after yesterday's performance that it’s only a matter of time. Or, speaking of the time, maybe they’re all still too tired at this hour, Sakura does seem to be falling asleep, and it looks like Naruto is nodding off.  
Kakashi lands in the training field two hours late and watches as Sakura shouts at him for his tardiness after giving his excuse.  
“Hey you three, I meant to ask you yesterday. Why did you leave the training field?”  
Both Sasuke and Sakura look at each other and then simultaneously look at a smirking Naruto.  
“You never said anything about staying in the training field sensei. There were no rules about boundaries. So the entire village was a battlefield. You can’t expect an enemy to stay in one place or play by your rules after all, and it’s always best to get the home field advantage.” Naruto says with that damned fox-like smart ass grin plastered on his face.  
“I figured you wouldn’t bother hanging in the back hills behind the academy since you’re a jounin and I know the back hills like the back of my hand.” Now he’s laughing and while it’s innocent sounding enough to any random passersby- to Kakashi it sounds evil, devious. Again, ‘What the fuck are they teaching at the academy these days?’ The traps set off the day before had sent civilians into a panic, and left several locations of the village desolate. A couple of Anbu had stopped by to investigate and noticed it was Kakashi’s team. They, and some of Kakashi’s fellow Jounin sensei, made sure to poke fun at him later when he joined them at the bar. The Anbu, being far too familiar with his training methods, shut up when he insinuated that it was a test of their evasion skills- Hide and Seek Kakashi style. However Kakashi can tell that some of them didn’t believe him. But it had been even worse when he’d had to report his team’s passing to the Hokage, whose eyes seemed to laugh at him.  
All of that, was simply Naruto turning a test into their advantage? What the fuck? Again, what are they teaching in the academy? And why didn’t any of the other teams he failed learn it?  
Kakashi shakes his head, wondering exactly he got himself into with this team. He worked last night on his plans for the next two days, deciding he needs to see for himself exactly where they are in terms of training. Ok, so what if Kakashi really doesn’t know anything about teaching and is actually planning for the training time to be insanely boring and simple for them for the next two days? He needs to be able to gather information from others while he tries to find his footing on how to handle children. But still, he is going to make an effort. He figures simple tai-jutsu and weapons should be a good start, after all the files show Naruto needs a little help with Tai jutsu and a lot of help with weapons while Sakura need a lot of help in both.

____________________________________________________________________________  
Sasuke observes his team mate as he listens to Kakashi's plans for training. Yesterday they graduated and Naruto had walked in looking like a professional or at least legitimate Shinobi which had caught Sasuke's attention- along with the attention of everyone else in the class once they realized it was Naruto.  
Naruto had been quiet, which is highly unusual, as he sat down at his desk and only answered a couple of everyone's questions.  
Sasuke, who takes pride in observing people, maintained his sights on Naruto as the blonde sat in his seat reading a book about… plants? Yesterday while waiting for Kakashi to show up. Really, it’s this one small thing between the new clothes and now the silent reading that piques Sasuke’s interest. Naruto does not read, or rather he didn’t- the blond is well known in their age bracket for his horrible grades which eludes from the blonde never bothering to study instead preferring to goof off. Which is why Sasuke finds himself watching Naruto from the corner of his eye as the raven haired Uchiha throws shuriken half lazily. He’s practiced Shuriken jutsu since he was a child, he had help from him, he’s practiced so often he doesn’t really need to look. He watches the idiot throw kunai and shuriken with focus, of course Naruto misses a bunch but Sasuke doesn’t expect the dope to suddenly be good at what is essentially Sasuke’s specialty in the academy. While Sasuke is considered top of their class in nearly everything- second only in trap evasion- he excels in shuriken jutsu. Shuriken Jutsu is his and his alone.  
They practice for two hours, Sasuke watching Naruto get antsy after a while. Not very noticable for anyone to really realize it but Sasuke takes pride in being able to observe people. It’s a skill he knows is useful in the line of work he signed up for. So he notices and adds it to the mental list of things to think about for later just in case it’s related to any of his other changes. Although Sasuke doubts it he also knows every detail, even ones that can seem unimportant, may hold important clues and thus information.

____________________________________________________________________________  
Kakashi calls it quits after two hours and he has to admit he sees Sakura has decent aim for a civilian who doesn’t practice. The best he’s ever seen? Hell no. Up to par with where he was at that age? Certainly not, Kakashi isn’t going to delude himself into thinking that any achievement he reached at this age should be a standard for the kids- after all he grew up during war and is a certified genius. Is Sakura the worst he’s ever seen? Nope. He watched Obito miss every single target at that age once, because Rin called to wish him good luck right as the idiot was about to release the shuriken. The Uchiha almost hit one target though... That is if Minato-Sensei could have been considered one of the wooden posts; a few of Sensei’s hairs did get shaved off though. It prompted Minato Sensei to decide no more words of encouragement while someone was holding deadly weapons for a while… Kushina-nee had laughed that night… Kakashi stops before he goes too far down memory lane and misses his chance to catch his first foot fall.  
While it may not be the best idea he's ever had, and while it certainly isn't the worst, it's the first sign he's desperate.  
He mentally counts back from five and sure enough he can hear the rumbling and feel the ground shaking. He shakes his head at Gai and his insane training methods.   
“Ah, my youthful rival. What do I owe this pleasure on this fine day?”  
“Hey Gai. Well as you no doubt heard last night I finally passed a team. I’m not sure how to go about teaching them. How do you even talk to kids these days?”  
“My youthful rival, there is no need to be ashamed of not knowing how to deal with children. I myself was a bit hesitant to take on a genin team.” Kakashi mentally puzzles until he realizes exactly what they are entrusted to do. Keep the genin alive and not screw them up. Kakashi recalls how Gai’s father had sacrificed himself to save Gai and his team when they were but children. They hadn’t expected to run into one of the swordsmen of the mist.  
“My approach is to encourage them, but you shouldn’t treat them like they are helpless. They are genin and they are children. They will make more mistakes in ways you wouldn’t think of. But they are not helpless. Encourage them to shine their flames of youth bigger than they ever thought possible. For example, while it may not be a good idea to start them on holding a boulder over their heads while performing squats you might start them off smaller, with a thousand squats. ” Kakashi nods, thanking Gai and heads off on his way to find someone a bit more practical in terms of training. Someone who is likely to have a better understanding of children… and reality. Asuma or Kurenai perhaps? He wanders around and decides to stop by a barbeque place where he knows he’ll be able to find someone he knows. Sure enough he notices team 10 having lunch with Asuma. He walks to the bar and orders a soda and some of their fries. He relaxes and soon enough Asuma occupies the seat right next to him.  
“I had a feeling you were here to see me. What’s up Kakashi?”  
“Genin.” Asuma waits while Kakashi finds the right words although Asuma already has a pretty good feeling.  
Kakashi sighs “How am I supposed to go about interacting with them? How am I supposed to direct them?” He rubs his eye- shoving his head band up a bit to also rub at his temple. “I don’t know anything about kids. I’ve never had a team before.”  
Asuma places a comforting hand on Kakashi’s shoulder “Sure you have. You had your own team mates when you were a genin didn’t you?”  
“Yes but half the time I spent with them was me and Obito arguing. I wasn’t exactly social back then.”  
“You aren’t that social now either. But you have come a long way from who you used to be. The only thing I can say is each team is different. Find the approach that works for you.” Asuma orders a couple saucers of Sake for them.  
“If you are that worried then I have a couple questions for you. What is the worst thing that can happen?”  
Kakashi shoots him a look before a light clink of china touching wood brings his attention to the saucer of Sake. He looks at it for a minute, barely registering as Asuma drinks from his own saucer.  
He takes a sip from his drink, never looking up from the bar counter. “Of them getting killed. Of saying something the wrong way and they get the wrong idea. Of screwing them up.”  
“You’ve lead Chunin on missions before haven’t you? And Jounin?”  
Kakashi nods wondering where his friend is going.  
“Are you the same Kakashi who lead Anbu in to the most life threatening missions and came back with everyone on the squad alive?” Asuma asks, refilling their drinks. Kakashi looks up at Asuma for the first time in several minutes.  
“What are you getting at Asuma?” He asks tiredly.  
Asuma only raises an eyebrow in silent protest until he gets an answer. Kakashi sighs knowing how stubborn the bearded man is. “Yes I’ve lead the black ops on missions and back with all of them alive, beaten and bruised but alive. Why are you asking?”  
“I have one more question. Were you afraid when you lead them out of the village gates?” He waits a moment, the corners of his lips tilting upwards. “If you can lead them out of the village without fear, go on the most difficult missions without fear. Then what makes you so afraid of twelve year olds?”  
Kakashi startles at that.  
“Treat it like an A rank mission. If you can get through those then this will be more or less easier. Less weapons flying your way that’s for damn sure. Train them like you’re preparing them to go with you on those A rank mission. Remember they are kids and need a break every now and then. My team complains plenty on when they want a break although they always want a break. My team is so unmotivated I swear.” Asuma pinches the bridge of his nose as a call from Choji ordering more food can be heard.  
“See? Kids these days are more vocal about what they want. Breaks, sleep, food…” Kakashi nods, he also knows how Akimichi eat because of their clans techniques. It won’t be easy on Asuma’s wallet that’s for damn sure.   
“Just make sure to spend time getting to know them and you’ll be fine.” Asuma claps his shoulder before going off to get back to his genin to try damage control on his poor wallet.  
‘Treat them like an A rank but get to know them huh? Maybe a few team lunches are in order.’

The next day sees the team at the bridge right on time, Naruto trying to read on of his binders although he keeps jerking awake. Sakura is not even bothering to hide how tired she is and is curled up with a blanket against a tree. Sasuke seems to be the least affected of them all, leaning against the bridge staring off at the distance although Kakashi would bet he’s sleeping with his eyes open.  
Goal of today is to get them to say one thing true about themselves and to eat lunch together. He makes a bet that they can’t hide from him for fifteen minutes, this isn’t productive to his daily goal this is instead to try to help them learn about stealth. Afterall a ninja who can not hide well is a dead ninja, if Kakashi is supposed to prepare them to be able to survive then he deems this as an important lesson best to be started on sooner rather than later. He hands all three a radio and sends them off. ‘Treat it like an A-rank mission huh? If my job is to make sure they stay alive then I better make sure they’re ready for any simple mission.’ He muses while Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura take the time to hide.  
When the time is up Kakashi decides they did not do too horribly a job. Kakashi searches for their chakra signatures and heads to the nearest one. Sakura is obviously hiding in the bushes by a nearby river stream and Kakashi calls the boys back.  
“You should have moved once you determined that you couldn’t remain in the same spot. Let’s go again.” He gives them a five minute head start to hide again and tries to think of other ways he can train the green genin.  
‘I’ll train you three.’ Kakashi takes off to locate the next chakra signature and have them restart. Trees blur as he speeds through them, wind whistling in his ear. ‘You three will become strong, you’ll curse me for my methods but you’ll live through any mission you go on for this village.’ Sounds of metal clashing against metal catches his ears as he races past a pair of ninja sparring. He notes he’s near another training ground and wonders if he’s being lead on a merry little run around...

Two hours later sees them all exhausted and starving. “Well it’s about time for lunch. Why don’t we all go eat something together?” Kakashi suggests and it’s a shock when Sasuke grunts in agreement. Kakashi along with Sasuke, who thrives on being better in everything, notes how Naruto was found the least amount of times during the training. Sakura was found a whopping thirty nine times- the girl just doesn’t know how to dampen her chakra and can’t run someplace far enough with her lack of stamina. Sasuke was found roughly twenty times. Naruto was only found fourteen times. Overall, better than he thought they’d do, but he can easily see how frustrated Sasuke is over being found more times than Naruto.  
Kakashi is curious how his blonde haired student was able to hide so well. Granted Kakashi can find them all easily if he decides to sense chakra, but opts instead for the old fashioned method of tracking; Naruto did pretty well for a twelve year old.  
The several places he did find Naruto were a little obvious but there was quite a few unusual places Kakashi would never have thought of. The main reason for Sakura being found more often- even though Naruto and Sakura both are horrible at masking their chakra- is that Naruto is able to hide his trail fairly well and is able to move farther away in the same given time. While Sasuke isn’t the best at hiding his chakra signature either, Kakashi knows that the kyuubi inside of Naruto will likely cause him to have a harder time hiding his presence then any of his peers. There is just too much chakra for the teen to control and hide.  
They all enjoy a nice lunch at a sushi place.

Kakashi learns that like all children his three new charges hold a child’s curiosity. That is, they are curious to see what he looks like under his mask if their disappointed and somewhat bewildered expressions are anything to go by.  
During lunch Kakashi decides to try to meet his second goal. “Alright. Who is up for a friendly game?”  
“Huh?”  
“What do you mean Sensei?”  
“There’s this old game that I know. It’s supposed to be for drinking but seeing as how you all can’t have alcohol yet we can play with water or juice. Whoever runs out of something to drink first loses. The rule of the game is simple. Say something you have never done. If someone has done it then they have to take a drink.”  
“Sounds easy enough.” Sakura says as she pulls her glass closer to her, the boys follow her lead.  
“I’ll start. Never have I ever painted Hokage monument.” It’s a cheap shot he knows but it shows them how the game is played. He motions Naruto to take a drink.  
Naruto, unamused, decides to go next. “Never have I ever been a jounin.”  
Kakashi is amused and takes a drink from his canteen. Sakura is next.  
“Never have I ever used a katon jutsu.” she sends an apologetic look towards Sasuke who ignores it with a sigh, taking a sip along with their sensei.  
Sasuke goes at last. “Never have I ever gone on a c rank mission.”  
Kakashi snorts in amusement and takes a sip. “Never have I ever failed a test in the academy.” Naruto shoots him a dirty look, muttering something about jounin sensei out to get him, but takes a sip.  
“Never have I ever poked someone in the ass.” He shoots, irritated. Kakashi looks up as if praying for patience and Sakura laughs. Sasuke snorts.  
“Dope, if you were stupid enough to let him get behind you be glad it wasn’t a kunai.”  
“Teme.”  
Kakashi sighs and quickly motions Sakura to go.  
“Never have I ever worn a neon orange track suit.”  
“Wha.” Naruto takes a moment to process what was just said and slumps in defeat as he takes a drink. Kakashi goes, despite it not being his turn, to keep everything afloat and stop Sasuke’s smug look.  
“Never have I ever had to hide from fangirls.” Sasuke shudders at the memory of hiding for hours and takes a sip, slightly paler than he was a moment ago. So they keep the game rolling, enjoying their break until it’s time to train again. As they walk they pass by a few older gentlemen with greying hair and Kakashi makes a note of how Naruto stiffens slightly, even as the blonde haired knucklehead continues smiling and laughing. But Kakashi sees, he sees that the smiles and laughs are not as honest as usual. The jonin revisits something in his mind that he had noticed previously, but had shelved because he hadn’t quite known how to process the information. Naruto had shied away from him as well on more than one occasion, how sometimes the boy would do a subtle double take when he caught the Jonin at the corner of his eye, as if to assure himself that it was Kakashi, and not someone else. Had it been his hair of all things all along? Was it the shade of silver that had the boy behaving so strangely?  
‘Is it the elder villagers who still remember the Yondaime and the kyuubi? No, the most those people do is yell at Naruto to leave their store. So what then?’ Kakashi didn’t exactly look like many people in the village, he could count on one hand the number of silver haired ninja there… were… ‘Oh, silver haired shinobi. Mizuki when he tricked Naruto after the graduation test.’ Kakashi mentally sighs. Bad enough he has the avenger, loner, going-to-get-a-teammate-killed-due-to-stupid-superiority-complex Uchiha on his team. He also has a boy who may or may not be a bit jumpy because of one self fucking, ass fisting prick. ‘Nidaime, what have I gotten myself into? Well. It's only been a day. Maybe it will be better to let him come to me? Asuma said kids these days are better about voicing their thoughts. I may have to be patient and wait until he trusts me enough to ask for help.’ He heaves a sigh and continues reading as they walk.  
‘But isn’t it possible for the problem have grown to terrible proportions by then? Also, I don’t see Naruto as someone to ask for assistance, whether that is because of fear of rejection, or the isolation he faced growing up.’ But then again, perhaps Naruto didn’t need his interference? Kakashi had noticed the change in the boy’s general demeanor, maybe it was just the kid’s way of coping? His calmer, more cautious behavior is strange, but only because it wasn’t what one would expect from him. Otherwise, Naruto seems to be handling things pretty well for a freshly graduated shinobi. As Kakashi muses further, the boy didn’t seem to be suffering greatly, just trying to handle some burden in his own way. Knowing this, Kakashi thought that maybe he should leave well enough alone. Though it couldn’t hurt to keep an eye on his student. A ninja could never be too careful, after all.  
'Treat it like you're getting them ready for an A rank mission’ Asuma’s voice comes back to remind him. While it's true that during A rank missions there is no falling apart and you have to be able to keep yourself together he also remembers Asuma and Gai reminding him that they're children and need a break sometimes. 'Looks like light training and team bonding is in the cards for the next couple days while Naruto relaxes into the swing of things and accepts he's not alone.’ He saw how the blonde had genuinely smiled while playing never have I ever and decides maybe more games like that can help. He contemplates what he learned today and how to help his students improve their skills. He notes to have a few 'races’ to get Sakura's stamina and speed up. 

AN: SO sorry for the long wait. I made the mistake of working on this chapter in two different documents and then a glitch in my computer closed the documents and caused me to lose track of which one had the changes I wanted to keep. This is just touching 7 pages and is 3,847 words long. I am hoping to have the next chapter done by the end of the week however I've been feeling insanely exhausted lately so if I don't make it please don't flame me.


	3. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another look at Kakashi's stalker habits, suspicion of the Hokage's coffee being in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This is 7 pages and 2668 words long. I won’t lie I lost the document this chapter was saved to. Yes this chapter was chapter 1 origionally but I didn’t like how I started posting it so I saved this until I felt it fit better. I was going to do a chapter with just Sasuke and Sakura this chapter instead of Kakashi but… you know how muses go. I edited this a little and I wonder if any of you can guess who the shinobi in the first paragraph is.
> 
> Honestly another slow paced chapter but I am doing this so the story is completely hammered out and more enjoyable for down the road.

Chapter 3

A shinobi wakes up in a cold sweat. Taking note of the hands indicating it’s four in the morning on the clock next to their bed they harshly press a palm to their eyes to push away unwanted memories. They get up and eat a light simple breakfast of eggs and rice before getting ready for the day and heading out at no later than four thirty for a walk to clear the unpleasant lingering remnants of the dream.

Just over a week after their graduation, Naruto's change has not gone unnoticed to Team 7, to Sasuke especially. Naruto is more serious, more calculating, not as loud. Naruto has shown more of an interest in plants and more patience. Naruto more often than not is bringing bentos for everyone, customized to suit their likes and personal preferences.

 

The dead last of the academy so far is proving to be a decent rookie shinobi. The biggest thing Sasuke has noticed is how quiet and almost antsy Naruto would be during their missions. Sasuke looks up and shares a look with Sakura. She too has noticed the change in Naruto ever since they graduated a week ago.

It could have just passed as the fact that the past two days the D-ranks are just boring d-ranks with nothing to really talk about. But it’s Naruto, the idiot who never shuts up, who wore bright neon orange.  
Though, Sasuke admits, the blonde hadn’t worn his bright orange jumpsuit that he’d had for the past year of the academy. Actually, Naruto barely wore any bright orange these days.  
Instead the blonde opted for wearing black pants, a crimson shirt and either a burnt orange or black with crimson trim jacket. Though Sasuke doesn’t know the clothes were gifted to Naruto from Iruka for graduating he still wonders what caused the sudden change in the blonde teen that made him give up his bright orange clothes.

Though if anyone had found out that Iruka had gotten Naruto the clothes it would have made a lot of sense and would have been accepted without question since the blonde practically worshiped Iruka.

The D-rank as we all know is boring and Sasuke finds himself almost wishing Naruto would go back to the way he was so he could demand a C-rank for the team. Because Sasuke feels himself to be the mature one of the team and wouldn’t have the balls to loudly demand a C-rank, not budging and overall driving the Hokage up a tree until they were free from the D-ranks.  
Instead Sasuke found Naruto pulling out all the correct weeds almost absent mindedly as he quickly works his way through his section of the garden. He notes how the blond seems to constantly shift his eyes in one direction during the course of the mission. Always the same direction, however Sasuke is at a loss at what has the knucklehead so distracted. It seems like Naruto is always distracted during training and their missions.

Checking to see Sakura, she too noticed how Naruto was practically staring off into space. It wasn’t really Sasuke’s style to ask someone about their wellbeing, because that just lead people to thinking, and thinking lead to conclusions. And he’d bet that asking after someone’s troubles would cause someone to conclude that he cares. Which he doesn’t.

He gives Sakura a blank stare, looking away after a slight pause.  
It unnerves him, because Sakura is a lot more keen than she outwardly displays. Sometimes things went right over her head if she didn’t have personal experience or she hadn’t read about it, but she just has this way of interpreting his behavior sometimes. It meant that she watched him. She knew him. No, she doesn’t know everything, and Sasuke is never going to let anyone get into his head that way. But she does know things, just little things. So, he realizes that she knows by the brief look he’d just given her, that he is leaving the problem to her.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the pink haired girl take in a quiet deep breath, steeling herself, because she is just as unsure about what was going on with Naruto as he was.  
“Naruto, what’s the matter with you?” Sakura blurts.  
Ever the covert operative, this one. Sasuke has to hold in a snort, because that isn’t really his thing either.  
Naruto looks up, and there is nothing exaggerated about his expression. He’d always been this expressive, loud, and bubbly being, but then suddenly he wasn’t. Neither Sasuke or Sakura knew exactly how to handle this too calm Naruto. Said blonde blinks twice at the girl, his head tilting slightly and a small furrow forming between his fair brows.  
“Sakura-chan, what do you mean by that?”

Okay yes, Naruto can be incredibly dense, but even Sasuke knows that the blonde was not this pathetically obtuse. Apparently Sakura is aware of this as well. Or perhaps the week that they’ve spent together made her aware of this? Whatever.

“Naruto, you’ve been acting all shifty and distant the whole time we’ve been here. And this isn’t even the first day that you have!” Sakura huffs, slapping the fistful of weeds in her hand onto the patch of soil before her so that she can indignantly cross her arms. “Don’t play dumb!”

“Sakura-chan, I really don’t know what you mean.” Naruto insists, lifting a hand to rub sheepishly at the back of his head.

‘Hm, so he thinks he can act strange for a long expanse of time and then go back to the default airhead and that would be the end of it? What does this usuratonkachi take us for?’ Sasuke mentally raises a brow as he continues working.

“What I mean is you keep staring off into space during our training. Today you’ve been staring off at our two o’clock. This morning it was at our five o’clock.” She starts listing off on her fingers.  
“Yesterday it was at our four o’clock for training in the morning and then after we broke for lunch and started working on our mission you kept staring off towards three o’clock.”  
She starts tapping her foot in rhythm as she lists off.  
“What has you so worried you constantly bite your lip and look like your ready to run at a moments notice?”

“It’s really nothing Sakura-chan.” He smiles, trying to alleviate their worries, because somehow he’s picked up on Sasuke's curiosity too.  
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind like how many bowls of ramen I’m gonna eat tonight.” He pauses for a moment, giving a blinding grin “And I’ve also been thinking about some cool stuff I learned about a couple new plants. Like there’s this one that is huge and it actually eats bugs. Man I’d hate to be Shino and be around that thing.”

He laughs and all Sasuke can think is ‘How can he think we’d believe it. But,’ Sasuke supposes with a mental shrug ‘If he really doesn’t want to tell us. Guess the two of us will just have to find out the ninja way.’  
Sasuke starts mentally documenting the information Sakura listed off. ‘Maybe there is something about what’s in those areas that has him worried?’  
He makes a mental note to try to figure it out. He would get some of the highest marks for noticing and remembering details in the academy.  
'Though Naruto also got pretty high marks.’ He notes. 'This could be interesting.’ he decides. 'Trying to figure out what has that usuratonkachi’s attention could be a nice challenge.’ After all, even with all the time they spent in the same class, no one could predict or read Naruto. Even Iruka occasionally had a hard time reading the blonde.

“Alright.” Kakashi's’ voice calls them back to the dull mission of painting a fence.

It is once the mission is finished, handing over the mission report, that Sasuke receives the first clue. Naruto seems to smile a little brighter at the sight of Iruka at the mission desk. Too bad he didn’t really connect it, or notice the difference between Naruto’s usual blinding smile and this one.

They all depart for their homes for the day and Sasuke pulls out a map once in the confines of his room. Thanks to his skill in recollection he is able to remember the different areas they were in and the direction Naruto was looking in from when Sakura listed them off hours earlier.

He finds where they were for training the past couple days. And starts calculating what direction Naruto was looking in from each.  
'There's no way he sensed another shinobi. There hasn't been news of any fights or anything like that. There wasn't any meetings and Naruto hasn't pulled any pranks since graduation.’ Sasuke’s brow furrows, eyes squinting before he remembers that Uchihas don't squint, they stare or glare. And so Sasuke starts to glare at the paper to reveal the answer.

After only a couple minutes Sasuke sighs and goes to get food after a day of training. He knows after he eats he'll go out back and work on his fireball jutsu followed by shuriken jutsu.

Three hours later several thunks sound, shuriken and kunai imbedding themselves into the targets. One target swings violently as it hangs from the tree. The leaves rustle and crickets chirp as Sasuke goes to collect his weapons so he can turn it in for the night. The moon already starting to rise. Sasuke heads inside and goes to make his dinner, bathing and going to bed. ‘I’ll find out what’s up with that blonde idiot soon enough.’ Is his last thought as he begins to dream.

 

The next morning begins with Kakashi showing up late as usual. Well, showing late, the truth of the matter is that he’s been there for a while. Observing his team, his sensei’s son.  
During the first day of training he noticed the change in Naruto’s clothes as well as his demeanor. Slightly more subdued, like the energy he was showing was a facade to keep people from worrying. Like he was trying to get back to normal even though he knew he was changed.  
Normally he would have brushed it off as final test jitters. But Kakashi isn’t stupid. Kakashi knows and he links the boy’s behavior as remnants of the boy’s disastrous graduation. He still wonders if he should have a talk with Naruto, but he also knows he wouldn’t know what the fuck to say to a pre-teen who is still shaken up over an instructor trying to kill him.  
Back when Kakashi was a pre-teen he’d already fought in a few battles in the war. He would be the first to admit he didn’t have what one would call a normal childhood, even for his generation.  
He notices Naruto looking off in the direction of Hokage tower during the test. At first he wonders if the Hokage is on the receiving end of Naruto's ire- via pranks-, then he remembers being told of Naruto learning the truth- and he starts wondering if his theory isn’t reality. He speculates if Naruto doesn’t feel betrayed and Naruto is planning to swap out the coffee for hot cocoa in retaliation- he heard about that happening when an academy teacher called Naruto a demon. Or perhaps, if maybe he doesn’t have questions for the Hokage.  
Kakashi resolves to keeping an eye on the teen and making sure he doesn’t get nightmares or pull a prank that will get him into trouble. Naruto doesn’t seem to be jumpy so much as…. Anxious? Or maybe nervous? Like he’s afraid of losing something. More precisely, someone. Kakashi has seen that look in his own eyes plenty of times to understand that much. Naruto is a puzzle though, and Kakashi gets the feeling he’ll be occupied for a while if he just observes for a bit.

He plays it casual, as if he’s not interested. Arriving on time and using his usual two hour lateness window to observe his students. His curiosity is piqued the first time when Naruto shows up early only to create a clone and send it off. Now that he’s used to it he watches silently, long since figuring out he sends the clone to watch Iruka. He nearly fell out of the tree laughing the first time, especially when Iruka didn’t seem to really notice the clone. Whether it was because the clone was out of sensing range, Iruka has grown accustomed to Naruto's hovering presence still so soon after graduation or if it’s because the clone had been transformed to look like a bird, Kakashi isn’t completely sure.

‘Well.’ Kakashi thinks, shaking his head. ‘This kid is creative with how to use his jutsu. Not many genin bother combining their jutsu.’

The Jōnin doesn’t bother observing Naruto every day after training however, Naruto seems a bit less like his ‘normal’ self so he makes the exception today. He watches as Naruto heads to his apartment like Naruto did the few other times he followed Naruto after training.  
He hadn’t really bothered to follow the gennin home since he figured out his ‘puzzle’ on day two of training. He had realized five days ago that following a genin, his genin student no less, could be considered creepy so he decided to only do it when something seemed up and once he solved the puzzle of why Naruto changed he decided he didn’t need to follow the blond any more.  
Now though Naruto is acting more guarded. Like he was really trying to not be found out on something and that got Kakashi’s attention.

He sits, perched on a nearby rooftop where he can see into the window and where his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. Naruto has collected an insane amount of information from the library. Several pages taped against the walls, clones all over the place studying various notes that clones have copied from the library. Notes on what, Kakashi doesn’t know. He sees some plants drying, and several pots of various other plants so Kakashi has to guess it’s on herbology. He lets out a low whistle and mentally notes to test Naruto’s knowledge on the flora of the village.  
He shakes his head in amazement. ‘He’s using the clones to study. Damn, is he ever his father's son.’ Kakashi remembers how Minato-sensei would often use clones to help work on various projects and cut some of his work load. Always managing to be home on time for dinner. ‘Although’ Kakashi muses with a slight sense of humor ‘I get the feeling sensei would have been on time no matter what. Especially with Kushina-nee cooking. For two reasons, one she was an amazing cook. Two Sensei did not have a death wish and was wisely afraid of his wife. Nee-san would have murdered him if he kept her waiting at home for dinner after she cooked.’ 

He takes just a moment to smile fondly at the memory and chuckle at his sensei's misfortune the first, and last, time he was ever late for dinner due to a meeting. Kushina put Minato through a wall that day and Kakashi got a very stern lecture about how it was officially Kakashi’s job to make sure her idiot workaholic husband made it home for dinner by any means necessary.   
Kakashi watches Naruto dismiss a few clones, having been working on some minor exercises around the apartment along with tidying up, and the blonde goes out to check on Iruka. This time breaking into the other man’s apartment and placing a plate of food on the table before leaving. Kakashi snorts as Iruka looks puzzled at the mysteriously appearing food and continues to watch over his student’s behavior. Not that Kakashi knows it but that is the same reaction Iruka has had the past couple days Naruto has been leaving food for the man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully next chapter won’t take so long for me to write and edit. Hopefully next my muse will let me write Sasuke and Sakura spending time with Naruto but I doubt it. EVen now it’s screaming for me to finish up Kakashi’s ‘investigation’. Leave a comment down below if you think I should follow my muse and finish Kakashi or write Sasuke and Sakura. Till next time. Ja ne.


End file.
